had no doubt added largely to the enthusiasm of the country folk
for the cause of the Commons. Though no great increase of the King's
forces could be expected in such a district, yet there is an interesting
account in Kimber and Johnson's Baronetage[NO] (1771) of a country
gentleman Mr. (afterwards Sir Richard) Shuckburgh:

"Sir Richard Shuckburgh, Knt., eldest son and heir, was in no way inferior
to his ancestors. As King Charles I. marched to Edgecot, near Banbury, on
October 22nd, 1642, he saw him hunting in the fields with a very good pack
of hounds, upon which it is reported that he fetched a deep sigh, and
asked who the gentleman was that hunted so merrily that morning when he
was going to fight for his crown and dignity; and being told that it was
this Richard Shuckburgh, he was graciously ordered to be called to him,
and was by him very graciously received. Upon which he went immediately
home, armed all his tenants, and the next day attended him in the field,
where he was knighted, and was present at the battle of Edge Hill. After
the taking of Banbury Castle, and his Majesty's retreat from those parts,
he went to his own seat and fortified himself on the top of Shuckborough
Hill, where, being attacked by some of the Parliament forces, he defended
himself till he fell, with most of his tenants about him; but being taken
up and life perceived in him, he was carried away prisoner to Kenilworth
Castle, where he lay a considerable time, and was forced to purchase his
liberty at a dear rate."

A fight for the possession of Lord Spencer's house at Wormleighton was the
Saturday evening's prelude to the Sunday's battle. It had been garrisoned
by some Parliamentarian troops sent by Essex, and in Rupert's attack some
prisoners were taken, from whom, it is said, the whereabouts of the
Parliamentarian army was learned.[Y] The house is said to have been
partly burned down in the fight, but it is not clear whether it happened
then or in the year 1643. Though with the Parliamentarians in the early
part of the Rebellion, Lord Spencer became Royalist long ere the campaigns
were over. The fact of an outpost being pushed so far as Wormleighton
shows that the Dassett Hills were held by the Parliament forces. The
Royalists had marched into the heart of a hostile country, Warwick Castle
and Lord Brooke on the N.W., Fawsley House and the Knightleys on the N.E.,
and on the South, Sir A. Cope and Hanwell Castle, and Banbury and
Brought